Sunday, January 3, 2010

Excuse me, Dexter

Yes, you.

Do not jump on your sister.

(Really wants to jump on his sister)

He'll have to be satisfied with open-mouthed excitement from a couple of feet away.

Piper is one of those dogs who triggers other dogs to pounce, probably because she's hyper-focused and also vibrating with energy. Since he was small, Dexter has liked to obsess on her. But as all good dog trainers strive to do, we make the "right" thing easy and the "wrong" thing difficult. He's only allowed to 'obsess' on his sister if a) he calls off when asked and b) he doesn't touch her. If he violates those rules, he is often put on a leash and not allowed to have any fun at all. As a result, about 90% of the time now he will creep around her and run *beside* her, but not jump on or bite her. This is acceptable.

How old is Solo? If he is under a year and Molly is not doing damage, and Solo backs off when bitten, I think it's probably a good thing. Sorry, I cannot help responding to behavior questions, even if only implied!

Solo is 4 months old-Molly is a year. She was doing damage-she's learning to back off a bit. I let Solo run a lot with MoonDog-my puppy raiser wanna be. He is patient, and when he corrects, he nips-not bites. For some reason, my boys are better and more tolerant of puppies than the girls.